By IPS Correspondents
GENEVA, Dec 11 2003 (IPS)

As the acknowledged engine behind the sweeping technological advances of our time, scientific discoveries and innovations are at the heart of discussions on how the information society – which science itself has made possible – can better serve the needs of humanity, particularly of peoples in the developing countries.

Scientists around the world have pondered what continuing role science should play in pushing the future of the digital age, especially given the critique that the scientific community has been less than active in determining how these technologies can best be utilised.

Gathered for two days at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), scientists seriously took up the challenge posed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to address the "clear inequalities" between the North and South inherent in scientific activities.

The choice of venue was fitting, as the renowned particle physics laboratory is the birthplace of the World Wide Web, which physicist Tim Berners-Lee created to enable scientists around the world to work together effectively.

"The Internet is really the foundation of today’s information society," says Dr. Robert Kahn, a pioneer of the U.S. Cold War-era defence initiative Arpanet, the precursor of the Internet.

Now chairman of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Kahn sees science’s role as exploring new forms of actions and creativity so that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be applied beyond the boundaries of science, as in the case of the Internet.

Scientists, academics and development workers agree that what is crucial to all of these initiatives is the sharing of scientific knowledge, which they consider to be a "public good".

Urging the developed countries to provide access to their scientific discoveries, Nitin Desai, Annan’s special advisor on the WSIS, says he considers it not an act of generosity but one of common sense.

For instance, though scientists in the least-developed countries are able to access scientific literature through a handful of low-cost electronic journals, in many cases they are burdened by the prohibitive cost of scientific studies and research works published in expensive journals that very few people can afford to buy.

Pakistan Minister of Science and Technology Atta-ur-Rahman says it will be a step in the right direction if his plea for year-old journals to be made available free of charge to the developing world is heeded.

In modern medicine, the use of virtual reality, online databases and even mobile phones for medical diagnosis, training and providing health information to remote areas, while already a reality, still needs to be made as freely available as possible so it can aid policy, research and practise.

Allowing access to and processing of relevant geographical data through open source geographic information systems (GIS) will enable developing nations to craft policies to maximize their economic, social and environmental benefits, says Santiago Borrero, secretary-general of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History.

"Geographic information is currently not playing a better role in the decision-making process, when it could be used to promote wealth and development according to local needs," he says.

Libraries, says Ismail Serageldin, director-general of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, have an essential role to play. "Libraries preserve the achievements of the past, provide access to the common heritage of humanity, are a fundamental part of the educational system and essential for scientific research that spurs economic growth," he says.

The Internet and other ICTs, which have revolutionised all of the library’s functions with less costly and easy access to material online, augurs well for the digital libraries of the future, particularly given the reduced connectivity costs of leading institutional information and research hubs, Serageldin says.

In all this, UNESCO official Walter Erdelen reminds scientists that the flow of knowledge should not be a one-way process. "Local and traditional knowledge, and other expertise available in the South should also be exchanged," insists Erdelen, assistant director-general for natural sciences at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

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